PCC Minutes: Monday 22nd January 2024
St Luke’s Church, Grayshott
Meeting 408 of the PCC in the Church Hall at 7.30 pm.
Present:
PCC Members: Revd Jeremy Haswell (Chairman), Sheila Austin, Edward Tobin, Clive Purkiss, Clive Loder, Hilary Loder, Jeremy Hassell (from 8pm), Alice Murphy, Anne Gale-Jones, Susie Millard.
1. Welcome and opening prayer
Revd Haswell read a passage from Philippians and opened the meeting with a prayer.
2. Apologies
Philippa Whitaker, Frankie Kelly, Penny Thomas, Ros Balfour, Viv Ward.
3. Minutes of PCC Meetings 407
The minutes were agreed. A grammatical error was corrected by the chairman: On page 2: The heating was turned on. A copy of the minutes was thus amended and signed by the chairman.
3a. List of Actions – was reviewed by the chairman.
Clive Loder questioned whether every item should be carried forward to each meeting and Sheila Austin replied that unresolved items were forgotten if not brought forward.
Hilary Loder asked whether risk assessments are required for all organisations using the church and church rooms – not just for youth activities. It was confirmed that this is correct.
The Chairman confirmed that a £5k donation to youth activities was delayed by probate after the donor had died.
He asked Clive Purkiss (in his role for HR matters) whether too much was being asked of Anna Gilderson (part time Church Administrator). This would be assessed at a forthcoming appraisal in February.
4. Vicar’s Report
This had been circulated to the PCC on one-drive.
Clive Loder had asked for clarification about the PCC members who had come to the end of their term (after 6 years they were obliged to stand down). They had therefore NOT resigned and the report will be amended.
Hilary Loder asked about the administration of the “common cup” at Holy Communion. There followed a discussion about how to organise this and for the vicar to communicate this to the congregation. Possibly a slide on the projector screen could be used at the 10.30am Sunday Holy Communion services.
5 Outward Giving
The OG disbursements had not yet been paid for last year.
The outward giving group (OGG) had met recently, and Sheila Austin had joined the group as Brenda Schwarz had resigned.
The list of charities and amounts to be donated had been circulated to the PCC. The vicar detailed the church members that had links to the charities listed.
After discussion with Revd Ian Richardson, vicar of St. Mark’s Bordon, they are receiving sufficient funds from other sources. This has therefore freed up £3k from the 10% of net income formula which might be allocated to a deserving cause.
Possible causes were discussed, and the allocation of this sum will be further considered by the OGG.
On behalf of the OGG, the vicar proposed that the PCC pass the payments suggested with the caveat that the routes for money be checked to ensure that they are safe. The PCC will be informed of any problems or changes to this.
This was seconded by Jeremy Hassell and approved unanimously by the PCC.
6 Sharing the Load
As Viv Ward was absent due to illness, Sheila Austin presented the report.
Hilary Loder asked that the term “Child Protection” be updated to “Safeguarding” as this is a much broader concept. The vicar expounded this. Hilary said that we needed notices in public places around the church and rooms. She expressed her concerns about live streaming services where children are present and asking permission to publicise photos of church activities which included children and vulnerable people. The vicar would arrange a meeting with both safeguarding officers to go through this.
Susie Millard reminded the PCC that, for children over 13 years, the child’s permission is required in addition to parental permission. It might be better just to livestream the sermon rather than the whole service and remove older livestreams from the website.
Hilary and Penny are both going on a course on 20th April and may be able to take questions to this.
7. Children & Youth Work
Hilary updated the report circulated to the PCC. The proposed joint monthly youth sessions with St. Bartholomew’s Church will now not be taking place – every Wednesday group will be at St.Luke’s. As the older children are attending similar groups elsewhere, Rhys and Hilary have decided to start with the younger group. The time is 5.30pm to 7pm. Before this it is planned that a “homework support” or “tea & toast” group will take place from 4 to 5.30pm. They hope this will start after February half-term. Grayshott parish council are in favour and may sponsor buying a printer.
Hilary reminded the PCC that there are no Sunday activities for children. She suggested starting a 45-minute service in church (with the pews rearranged “café style”) once a month at 4pm on Sunday afternoons. She expressed frustration at previous experiences running a “family” or “all age” service at which no children attended! Susie suggested a six-month trial of this – until the summer holidays. There are no plans to restart Sunday School.
PCC members were broadly in favour of this. Hilary proposed exploring a six-month trial of running a service for families once a month on Sunday afternoon. This was seconded by the vicar and approved unanimously by the PCC.
The vicar said there were plans to reintroduce the “Babes & Toddlers” breakfasts on Saturday mornings.
Hilary said that Rhys would like to reinstate Men’s Breakfast on the second Saturday each month. This would be outside his paid youth work duties. He would like this to commence from 10th February.
Rhys had put a questionnaire out to the parents of children attending the Base and received positive and constructive feedback.
8 Reports
- Buildings & Grounds: the Holy Dusters need more volunteers.
- Administration: a volunteer has been found for setting up rotas. Sheila had only had 5 responses and pleaded for people to respond more promptly.
- Finance: The December concert raised £1300. Donations from the private schools after their carol services had been disappointing. Hilary pointed out that, since raising the hire charge, we have lost the hire of the Timothy Room by the Bridge Club. They find it much cheaper to hire the small village hall. Several PCC members considered our hire charges were pricing us out of the market and the rates needed to be reviewed urgently.
- Pastoral Team: The vicar will be liaising with Green Gables nursing home for more input there.
- Prayer: Penny Thomas has established a prayer area where people can pray before the 10.30 Sunday services and at other times.
- Outreach: Claire Haswell has been appointed as champion and will provide a report for the next PCC meeting.
- Hospitality: Anne Gale-Jones would like a rota for the helpers. The vicar expressed gratitude for the efforts she puts in.
The meeting finished in prayer at 9.35pm
The next PCC meeting will be on Monday 25th March 2024 at 7.30pm